Various embodiments of the present invention relate to a stowable vehicle seat and, more particularly, to a stowable vehicle seat having improved operability.
Conventionally, there has been known a stowable vehicle seat in which—in the state in which the rear end part of a seat cushion constituting a vehicle seat is supported to be rotatable in the front and rear direction on the front side of a stowage recess (storage recess) in vehicle body floor, and a seat back is folded over the seat cushion—the vehicle seat can be rotated to the rear and stowed in the stowage recess.
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-82698 (“the '698 Publication”), rotating shafts are provided in both right and left side edge parts in the front part of the stowage recess and brackets provided in right and left parts of the rear end part of the seat cushion, and the brackets are disposed to be rotatable in the front and rear direction with respect to the rotating shafts, whereby the seat can be stowed in the stowage recess by supporting the rear end part of the seat cushion to be rotatable in the front and rear direction.
In the technique described in the '698 Publication, the operating element for reclining lock and striker lock operated when the stowable vehicle seat is stowed and restored are separated for each mechanism, and also a lever is used as the operating element for striker lock. Therefore, this technique has a disadvantage that the operation load is high, and the operation is difficult to perform.